The 5 best ways to start a song

Merch!

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:48 Drums: What comes next?
2:03 Chords: Finding progressions
2:45 Chords: Randomly generated progressions
5:35 Sponsor: Ultra low latency wireless headphones
6:53 Melody: Why chords come next
7:27 Melody: Inspired by crowd-sourced notes
10:05 Sound: Pure experimentation
13:05 Lyrics: Difficult but rewarding!
14:14 Lyrics: Finding compelling lines
15:47 Lyrics: The word ladder technique
21:09 Lyrics: The rhythm technique

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Thanks for watching today and a big hug to you if you share this video with someone!

[emmetkowler]

The key to ALL of these is to let your inhibition GO. Biggest hurdle to the beginning of anything creative — just follow it down the rabbit hole, don't worry if it's "bad" or a "keeper". Thanks for this great vid, Andrew. Really helped me kick myself out of a rut.

[peach_total]

a really good lyric writing tip, or maybe just different way of looking at lyrics:
i was watching an old interview with kurt cobain where he was saying that only the first two lines of Serve the Servants is about their newfound status as a rock band, and the rest of the song is about multiple different things. i thought the concept of all of the lyrics in a song not having to be about one thing was really liberating

you can have 3 lines about your dog dying, a chorus about going on vacation with your friends, 6 lines about how you wish you were in a different place in your life, etc.
and honestly even if you’re writing about “different subjects” there’s usually a really interesting through-line that will emerge

[SnowPheasant]

I've literally written more songs after just watching half of this video than I had in my entire life before watching it. Thank you Andrew, this has sparked a project that has me and my best friend writing at least one song a week together. It's been awesome.

[RoomieOfficial]

Great video!! Love the word writing exercise!

[landolin_music]

A trick I learned about writing lyrics is to take a topic and then writing down words that are related to this topic (5-15 words).
Then I try to write about this topic but without using any of the words. For example: Writing about space, and I cannot use the words: black hole, far, stars, silence.

[awcartermedia]

THIS. IS. AMAZING. I feel so inspired right now. I will probably refer back to this video each time I get writer's block trying to write something!

[visnyliss]

Just want to drop in one more lyric writing 'trick' for getting started, and this is really helpful for getting something going when you just feel blocked in general.

Pick any song you like, anything at all. Write new lyrics for it. Then write new music for the lyrics you just wrote.

I don't know why, but when I do this I have a much easier time STARTING the lyrics, then I usually only get a few lines into it before my own ideas for the music start to come in, and then, well, that's it. Just keep following yourself down that rabbit hole. The lyrics can sometimes follow the cadence of the original at first, but I find once I start incorporating ideas for the music, the lyrical cadence kind of naturally changes as well. The end result is completely unrecognizable from the song I started with.

[silvangoldammer]

for me as an amateur producer who always started on drums its very eye-opening to see these different approaches. I cant wait to play around with them myself.

[kaden]

It's been forever since we've had a good "do bass to it"

Glad to see that make a comeback

[stevenlindstrom]

Andrew, I'm a 60 year old rockist and I'm taking your class in February. Can't wait. Your channel has been a great inspiration and I wish I discovered it years ago. Love what you do and hope you can do it for as long as it inspires and fulfills you!

[BlueEagle-ykdg]

Dude, I woke up with melody in my head and now I've gone down the rabbithole of music theory. Literally all of these songs you've made in this video sound sooo good man. Keep it up.

[kritischparken]

this guys an absolute genius, how can this much creativity be stuffed into one guy

[yudipitre]

I so needed this, a beginner i wrote somewhat a song. My daughter passed away and wanted to do something for her. She loved music. Your awesome at what you do.

[pmaldona]

It's like Andrew did a 5 producers competition video, but with just himself and a different technique each time! Love this!

[AbMMMusic]

It's been 2 years and yet I still come back to 4:34

Need that full version

[HACKERSInc]

I love that rock riff in the “Start with drums” part

[Ottsucks]

Your studio is the most aesthetically pleasing thing ive seen all day

[danhectic]

i just finished an album myself- i started with lyrics & then made some rhythms/beats/melodys & went from there. gave myself a deadline & made 11 songs in 13 weeks!

[wyntrr_end]

hahahaha
andrew: “goodbye ceiling, hello clouds”
me: aw that’s perfect! i bet he’s gonna pick that one and make something super joyful and uplifting-
andrew: yeah not all of them are winners
me: … );

[DustinLaneProductions]

Every song was a legit banger when getting a full production. If I ever have a musical problem I always come here first and usually last.